Fire and Hemlock
#3993.95 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 1985 Reading commitment Low Diana Wynne Jones Last reviewed 2026-08-13
Overview
A contemporary-set fantasy novel reworking the ballads of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer, in which a young woman's childhood friendship with an enigmatic older man unravels into a battle to free him from a fairy queen's court.
Fairy-tale retelling · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Fire and Hemlock (novel) Diana Wynne Jones
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Fire and Hemlock | 1985 | core | 3.95 (11,234 ratings) |
A contemporary-set fantasy novel reworking the ballads of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer. Registered under its 1985 UK first edition year per this project's author-credit/textual-integrity convention (a 1984 US edition also exists; UK first per Wikipedia). Standalone; registered as a single-work universe (LOTR-analogy convention). Confirmed separate continuity from Diana Wynne Jones's other admitted universes: Howl's Moving Castle, Chrestomanci, and the Dalemark Quartet.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Fire and Hemlock? Fire and Hemlock's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Fire and Hemlock finished? Complete (1985).
- How much reading does Fire and Hemlock take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~420 pages).
- How is Fire and Hemlock ranked? #399 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 11,234 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #399?
Ranked #399 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 3.95 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (11,234 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #398, Sands of Arawiya (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 1 book · Complete · 11k ratings · Ranks #399 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment fairy-tale retelling fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Phoenix Award (Best Book), 2005: honor: Fire and Hemlock; Confirmed directly via the Children's Literature Association's own Phoenix Award page: an Honor Book for 2005 (the 2005 winner was The Catalogue of the Universe by Margaret Mahy). The Phoenix Award honors an English-language children's book published 20 years earlier that did not win a major literary award at the time -- 2005 = books from 1985, matching Fire and Hemlock's UK first-edition year. Registered as `honor`, this project's exact enum value for this case.
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Suggestions computed from what Fire and Hemlock and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Six Crimson Cranes Fairy-tale retelling / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.07
- The Wrath and the Dawn Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Low commitment · 4.04
- Magic Moon Portal fantasy / Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Low commitment · 3.85
- Blanca & Roja Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Low commitment · 3.75
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.95 across 11,234 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Fire and Hemlock admitted as a single-work universe accepted 2026-08-13
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Fire and Hemlock Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-08-13
Rule: single-work: a genuinely one-off novel, registered per this canon's Once and Future King/LOTR-analogy precedent. Confirmed separate continuity from Diana Wynne Jones's other admitted universes: Howl's Moving Castle, Chrestomanci, and the Dalemark Quartet.